Application Privacy Notice.

1Who This Notice Applies To

This Application Privacy Notice applies to personal information collected and used by EXPLR PBC, Inc. in connection with applications to the 2027 National STEM Festival U.S. Edition, including information used for eligibility, Competition administration, judging, Finalist selection and National STEM Champion selection.

It applies to applicants and to parent/legal guardian information collected where an applicant is under 18.

This Notice does not replace privacy information that may apply to general browsing of nationalstemfestival.com, unrelated EXPLR services, later Champion travel forms or other separate programs.

2Applicants Under 13

Applicants must be 13 or older

The 2027 U.S. Competition is not open to children who will be under age 13 on April 11, 2027. The application asks for Date of Birth before collecting the rest of the applicant's personal information so that eligibility can be checked.

If the age check shows that an applicant is under 13, the application stops and EXPLR does not intentionally collect or retain a Competition application from that individual.

If EXPLR learns that personal information from a child under 13 was inadvertently submitted, EXPLR will take reasonable steps to review and delete that information unless retention is required by law.

EXPLR does not obtain COPPA parental consent for under-13 applicants; under-13 applicants are ineligible.

3Information We Collect

Depending on the applicant and how far they progress in the Competition, EXPLR may collect the following categories of information.

EXPLR does not use precise geolocation to administer the application.

4Information We Deliberately Do Not Request

The initial National STEM Festival application is designed to limit the amount of sensitive information collected. The application does not request:

• Social Security number
• citizenship or immigration status
• household income
• family financial records
• Free or Reduced-Price Lunch status
• race or ethnicity
• religion
• sexual orientation
• medical diagnoses
• disability information
• genetic records
• biometric identifiers
• identifiable patient/research-participant information

Applicants are also instructed not to include identifiable medical, genetic, biometric or other sensitive personal information about themselves or another person in project materials.

5Why We Use Your Information

EXPLR uses application information where reasonably necessary to:

• determine eligibility
• receive and administer applications
• conduct blind Phase 1 judging
• administer the Title I Opportunity Bonus
• conduct Phase 2 judging
• select Finalists
• select National STEM Champions
• manage Special Awards
• communicate with applicants and parents/guardians
• investigate eligibility or integrity concerns
• correct administrative errors
• protect the Competition and application system
• produce de-identified or aggregated participation/impact analysis
• comply with legal, tax, audit, insurance or recordkeeping requirements
• establish, exercise or defend legal claims

EXPLR does not use National STEM Festival application information to build advertising profiles of applicants.

6Blind Judging

Phase 1 is designed as a blind review. Phase 1 judges may receive:

• anonymized application ID
• Festival Theme
• Project Title
• Project Summary
• Research Question / Challenge / Hypothesis
• Objective / Purpose
• anonymized Acknowledgements & References
• Project PDF

Where administratively necessary, Competition Region may be associated with the judging record.

Phase 1 judges do not receive:

• applicant name
• applicant photograph
• Date of Birth
• gender
• email
• phone number
• parent/legal guardian information
• school identity
• Title I status
• Opportunity Bonus value
• Project Video

EXPLR separates identifying information from the Phase 1 judging dataset before making entries available for blind review. The general judging community is not given access to the Formspree application database.

7Title I Opportunity Bonus

Applicants are asked whether their school is currently designated as Title I eligible.

EXPLR may verify the response using official information such as the NCES Common Core of Data, U.S. Department of Education records, school/district information or another reasonably reliable official source.

A verified eligible response may result in a 5-point Opportunity Bonus being added administratively to the applicant's Phase 1 Selection Score.

• judges do not see Title I status;
• judges do not see whether an Opportunity Bonus was applied;
• the bonus does not alter a judge's Project Score;
• the bonus is used only for Finalist advancement; and
• it does not carry into the Final Competition Score.

EXPLR does not collect household-income information to administer this bonus.

8Project Video

The Project Video is part of the original application but is not used in blind Phase 1 judging.

If an applicant becomes a Finalist, authorized Phase 2 judges may access the Project Video for judging.

Applying or becoming a Finalist does not by itself make the Project Video public.

If a Finalist is later selected as a National STEM Champion and accepts Champion status, use of the submitted Project Video may become part of the Champion media permissions described in the Finalist Information & Champion Media Agreement.

9Finalist Information

If an applicant becomes a Finalist, EXPLR may publicly identify the Finalist by:

• name
• Competition Region
• project title

Finalist status alone does not authorize public use of the applicant's Project Video, additional photographs, biography, quotes or complete application.

Finalists will be asked to complete a separate Finalist Information & Champion Media Agreement if they wish to remain eligible for National STEM Champion selection.

10National STEM Champions

National STEM Champion is a public-facing role. Broader Champion publicity and media processing begins only if (1) the Finalist is selected as a National STEM Champion; and (2) the Finalist accepts Champion status.

Potential Champion information may include:

• name
• Competition Region
• project title
• approved public-facing project description
• biography
• approved photographs
• Project Video
• approved quotes/media responses
• Festival photography/video/audio
• media interviews

Those uses are governed by the Finalist Information & Champion Media Agreement and applicable Festival participation documents rather than this initial Application Privacy Notice alone.

11Who We Share Information With

EXPLR may disclose application information to:

EXPLR staff and authorized contractors

Only where reasonably necessary for application administration, judging administration, communications, technical support, compliance and Festival operations.

Judges

Only the information appropriate for the applicable judging phase.

Technology / service providers

Including providers that host, transmit, store or secure application information on EXPLR's behalf.

Professional advisors

Where reasonably necessary, such as attorneys, accountants, insurers and auditors.

Government, regulatory or legal authorities

Where disclosure is required by law or reasonably necessary to respond to lawful process, protect legal rights, investigate fraud or safety concerns, or enforce Competition requirements.

Corporate transaction

Information may be transferred as part of a merger, financing, acquisition, restructuring or sale of relevant business assets, subject to appropriate privacy protections and applicable law.

Applicant information is not routinely provided to corporate sponsors.

12Formspree

EXPLR uses Formspree to receive the online application and file submission. Formspree processes submitted information on EXPLR's behalf as part of the application-delivery process.

Formspree currently uses infrastructure hosted with Amazon Web Services in the United States.

Application data is transferred from the application intake system into EXPLR-controlled Competition records. EXPLR intends Formspree to function as the intake layer rather than the long-term system of record. Judges are not provided direct Formspree dashboard access.

13Google Workspace

EXPLR uses business technology including Google Workspace to maintain and manage controlled Competition records. Access to applicant information is limited according to role and operational need.

Competition records may be used to create identity/eligibility records, blind judging datasets, Finalist records, scoring records and administrative Competition records.

Google may process service data through infrastructure located in multiple jurisdictions as described in its applicable business privacy and data-processing terms. Applicant information is maintained in EXPLR-controlled business accounts and Shared Drives, not individual employee personal Google accounts.

14Sponsors, Partners & Exhibitors

Supporting the National STEM Festival does not give a sponsor, partner or exhibitor access to the raw application database.

EXPLR does not provide sponsors or partners with applicant contact lists, Date of Birth, parent information, school-level application records, Title I information or raw application responses simply because they support the Festival.

Qualified representatives of a sponsor or partner may serve as Competition judges. When they do, they receive only the judging information appropriate to that phase and are subject to Competition confidentiality and conflict requirements.

Different rules may apply to approved public Champion materials after a Finalist becomes a Champion and accepts the applicable Champion media terms.

15Sale, Sharing & Advertising

We do not sell application personal information

EXPLR does not sell National STEM Festival application personal information for money or other consideration.

EXPLR also does not “share” National STEM Festival application personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising as that term is used in the California Consumer Privacy Act. Application information is not used to create third-party behavioral-advertising audiences.

EXPLR does not sell or share the application personal information of applicants under 16. EXPLR does not require a minor to opt in to the sale or sharing of application information because EXPLR does not engage in those activities with application information.

EXPLR does not use applicant personal information for unrelated targeted advertising.

16Artificial Intelligence & Automated Decisions

EXPLR does not use National STEM Festival application submissions to train public or third-party generative-AI models. EXPLR does not authorize Formspree, judges, sponsors or other Competition participants to use application materials for independent AI-model training.

The Title I Opportunity Bonus may be calculated automatically based on the verified administrative status recorded for the applicant's school. However, Finalist and National STEM Champion selections are not made solely by an automated decision system. Project evaluations and Competition selections involve human judging and/or human administrative review.

EXPLR may use ordinary software tools for calculations, data organization, quality control, fraud detection or administrative support.

17Cookies, Technical Data & Tracking

The application page and its technology providers may process limited technical information required to operate, secure and troubleshoot the application, such as IP address, browser/device information, timestamps and security logs.

EXPLR does not use information entered into application fields for cross-site behavioral tracking.

Do Not Track

Some browsers offer a legacy “Do Not Track” setting. Because there is not a single universally adopted technical standard for Do Not Track signals, the website may not respond to every legacy DNT signal in the same way.

Where applicable law requires recognition of a legally recognized opt-out preference signal, such as Global Privacy Control for covered sale/sharing activities, EXPLR will honor that signal for activities to which the law applies. Because EXPLR does not sell or share National STEM Festival application personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, application-submitted information is not sold or shared regardless of whether a browser sends such a signal.

18How Long We Keep Information

EXPLR does not keep identifiable information longer than reasonably needed. Retention varies by record type:

EXPLR may retain a particular record longer where reasonably necessary to comply with law, investigate misconduct, resolve a dispute, protect legal rights or respond to a security incident.

19Security

EXPLR uses reasonable administrative, organizational and technical safeguards designed to protect application information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration or loss. Measures may include:

• controlled business accounts
• role-based access
• multi-factor authentication
• secure transmission
• restricted access to identifiable records
• separation of blind judging information from applicant identity information
• confidentiality obligations for judges and authorized personnel
• security controls provided by contracted technology providers

No online system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, and EXPLR cannot promise absolute security.

20Your Privacy Choices & Requests

Applicants and, where appropriate, parents/legal guardians may contact EXPLR to request:

• access to personal information EXPLR maintains about them
• correction of inaccurate personal information
• deletion of personal information
• information about how personal information has been used or disclosed

Contact: nationalstemfestival@explr-media.com. EXPLR may need to verify the requester's identity before completing a request.

Some information may need to be retained despite a deletion request where reasonably necessary to comply with law, maintain Competition integrity, complete an active Competition process, prevent fraud, establish or defend legal claims or meet another lawful exception.

A request to correct personal information does not permit an applicant to substantively rewrite or improve a submitted Competition project after the deadline.

21Parents & Legal Guardians

Applicants ages 13–17 are minors, but they are old enough to participate in the U.S. Competition under the published eligibility rules.

The application collects parent/legal guardian contact information for applicants under 18 for Competition administration and later participation requirements where applicable.

A verified parent/legal guardian may contact EXPLR concerning personal information that they provided or may make an appropriate privacy request on behalf of their minor child, subject to verification and applicable law.

Privacy requests do not automatically override Competition recordkeeping, judging integrity, legal obligations or the rights of an older minor where applicable law provides otherwise.

22California Privacy Information

California applicants and families

California privacy laws may provide additional rights concerning personal information. Depending on whether a particular California law applies to EXPLR and the processing involved, California residents may have rights including:

• the right to know/access personal information
• the right to request deletion
• the right to correct inaccurate information
• the right to opt out of sale or sharing where applicable
• the right to limit certain uses of sensitive personal information where applicable
• the right not to receive discriminatory treatment for exercising applicable privacy rights

EXPLR does not sell or share application personal information

EXPLR does not sell National STEM Festival application personal information and does not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. This includes application information relating to applicants ages 13–15. EXPLR therefore does not seek authorization to sell or share those applicants' Competition information because it does not engage in that activity.

The application may collect the following broad California personal-information categories:

• identifiers and contact information
• Date of Birth / age eligibility information
• education/school information
• optional demographic information
• internet/network activity associated with submitting the form
• visual/audio information contained in the Project Video
• Competition/project information
• inferences created only to the limited extent inherent in Competition judging/scoring

EXPLR does not use these categories to create an advertising profile of an applicant.

California sensitive personal information

The initial application is intentionally designed not to request categories such as Social Security number, precise geolocation, racial/ethnic origin, religious beliefs, health diagnoses, genetic data or immigration/citizenship information. If information submitted for a technical purpose could qualify as sensitive personal information under applicable California law, EXPLR uses it only for reasonably necessary Competition, security or administrative purposes and not to infer unrelated characteristics about the applicant.

The retention periods and criteria for each main category of Competition information are described in the How Long We Keep Information section above.

California residents may send requests to nationalstemfestival@explr-media.com and may state “California Privacy Request” in the subject line. EXPLR will not discriminate against an applicant for exercising an applicable California privacy right.

Where California law permits a resident to use an authorized agent, EXPLR may request information reasonably necessary to verify the agent's authority and/or the identity of the individual concerned. Where EXPLR is legally required to recognize Global Privacy Control or another qualifying opt-out preference signal, EXPLR will process that signal as required for the applicable activity. Because application information is not sold or shared for cross-context behavioral advertising, the application-data processing described in this Notice does not depend on such an opt-out.

23Other U.S. State Privacy Rights

Residents of certain U.S. states may have additional privacy rights under applicable state consumer-privacy laws. Depending on applicable law, those rights may include:

• access
• correction
• deletion
• portability
• opting out of sale
• opting out of targeted advertising
• opting out of certain profiling
• appealing a denied privacy request

EXPLR will respond to verified privacy requests as required by applicable law. Send requests to nationalstemfestival@explr-media.com with the subject “Privacy Request.”

If a request is denied and applicable state law provides a right to appeal, the requester may respond to EXPLR's decision and state “Privacy Request Appeal.” EXPLR will review the appeal through a person other than, where reasonably practical, the person who made the original denial.

24Changes to This Notice

EXPLR may update this Application Privacy Notice to reflect changes in law, technology, service providers or Competition administration.

If a change would materially alter how already-collected application personal information is used, EXPLR will provide appropriate notice and, where required by law, obtain additional authorization before using the information for the new purpose.

The current version will show its effective or updated date.

25Contact Us

Privacy questions or requests:

EXPLR PBC, Inc.
82 Nassau Street #60050
New York, NY 10038
United States

Email: nationalstemfestival@explr-media.com · Suggested subject line: 2027 U.S. Application Privacy

Please do not email sensitive personal information, identity documents, medical information or Social Security numbers unless EXPLR specifically requests information through an appropriate secure process.